London (AP) – Before competing in the Eurovision Song Contest in Turin in May, Sam Ryder had doubts, as Britain had finished in an embarrassing last place for the previous two years. But Ryder finished second with his song “Space Man” and a spectacular performance in a glittery suit – the start of an incredible run for the British singer-songwriter. Sam Ryder is now releasing his debut album, There’s Nothing but Space, Man!
“What a year, man, amazing!” enthused the 33-year-old in an interview with the German Press Agency in London. Among other things he sang in the summer of the 70th anniversary of Queen Elizabeth II in London in front of Buckingham Palace and was on stage at Wembley Stadium with the musicians of the Foo Fighters and his idols Queen.
“If just one of these things happened in a year or two, you’d sit down with family and talk about it for months. It’s really hard to sum up.”
He has almost no time for sports
Ryder, whose career began as a Tiktok star, has long been a wanted man beyond the internet. This year he has given concerts in Germany, the United States and Great Britain. Time has become a scarce commodity for him. He spoke to dpa early in the morning via zoom while taking a walk in Primrose Hill Park in London. “I’m trying to play some sport,” he says with a laugh. “I do my interviews while walking, otherwise I don’t have time for sports.”
The man with the surprisingly full beard and long hair composed most of the songs for his debut album before the ESC hype started. “I wrote the album not knowing I was writing an album.” Only the success in Turin and the great attention prompted Ryder to make an album out of it. “I went through my hard drive and found about 100 songs. Then I started making sort of playlists. And I thought: I’d like a record like that. The songs just went well together.” Two more songs followed.
Its positive nature is not artificial
“There’s nothing but space, man!” has become a powerful pop rock album in which Ryder’s extraordinary voice, as in “Space Man”, asserts itself from the very beginning.
For example, on the opening track “Deep Blue Doubt” he first sings over melancholy piano chords before the song develops into a rousing and uplifting pop song. This is symbolic of Ryder’s positive attitude, which — it becomes clear in conversations — isn’t artificial at all.
The dramaturgy from the rather quiet opening to the powerful chorus is similar to “Space Man”, “Tiny Riot” or “More”. The addictive song about the feeling of wanting more of everything and never having enough instead of focusing on the essentials is one of the highlights of the album. “We’re all distracted by the big, shiny stuff,” Ryder said, “but they don’t have the longevity of the plain, simple, nice stuff.”
The singer with the hippie look does not want to be blinded by his career highlights this year, so as not to lose his grip on the ground. “Nobody wants to be friends with someone who thinks they’re very important because they performed at Wembley,” he said. “However, there are so many people who do this. I have absolutely no interest in this sort of thing.”
It’s not playing the Spotify game
The song “This Time” is about Ryder’s meteoric rise to fame and the pitfalls that followed. “Careful when you climb a ladder, you don’t know how high it goes” reads one line.
In the streaming age, many artists consciously align their songs with Spotify and Co. when writing and starting the chorus as early as possible. Luckily Ryder doesn’t. “I think it’s also because some of my favorite songwriters are the big ones. Billy Joel never wrote his songs for Spotify. It didn’t exist then. Maybe I won’t have a huge streaming hit right away because I’m not playing this game, but I’m reaching out to the fans.”
You can hear that in addition to Billy Joel and Elton John, Queen, with whom Ryder sang the song “Somebody To Love” at the tribute concert for the late Foo Fighters drummer Taylor Hawkins, and their legendary frontman Freddie Mercury are among his most important characters role models songs sung with passion.
The album is completed by some electropop (“Put A Light On Me”) and some soul groove (the single “Somebody”). “There’s Nothing But Space, Man” is a solid debut. It is predicted that Sam Ryder will soon have even less time for sports than he does.
Sam Ryder’s album There’s Nothing But Space, Man will be released December 9 via Parlophone Records.
© dpa-infocom, dpa:221209-99-842897/4
